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7.29.2013

Once I dried out from Fridays storm, I was able to spend a little time with Autumn on Saturday morning before I had to do the NM Autism Society fundraiser.

Since it was my day to sleep in, Ernest got her when she woke up and then we had a bed party aka letting Autumn crawl all over the bed, yelled 'eh' for Jack a million times and took her nap.

Looking for Jack. 'Eh, ah' aka 'Hey, Jack'

We went to the bank and Party City for some balloons. She was completely enamored with the balloons! It was a good thing too because we were waiting there for a while. I thought maybe the helium when they blow them up would scare her, but nope. This is a great sign that she'll love the Balloon Fiesta in October. I'm so excited to take her! We didn't make it last year because the day we were going to go was the day Autumn was born! We were thisclose to buying tickets but bailed at the last minute. Good thing!

On Saturday, Ernest and Autumn surprised me at my event which was super nice! I was able to get out early and hang out with her before bedtime. She was really hyper and decided it was the night she was going to climb the stairs! 5 stairs to be exact. Time for a baby gate!! I didn't snap any pictures out of fear of leaving her for a split second to grab the camera.

Pulling up on everything, including my dress

We had another morning bed party Sunday too. I think her and Jack totally love hanging out in our bed as a special treat! We did mass amounts of laundry. I seriously dread doing laundry so I let it gather into a huge pile of her stuff.

I attempted a high ponytail on Autumn. She was less than thrilled. I seriously need to work on my baby hair style skills! It's so hard when they're wiggling around!!

We then went to breakfast, looked at another house then took naps. After a really long week and weekend I was exhausted!

So was Autumn. Except she didn't want to sleep that long and woke up on the wrong side of the crib! She was grumpy bear.

I gave her some big girl snacks I picked up from the store. I thought we'd try
Cheerios. She ate a couple then wouldn't eat any more. I don't think that she's a picky eater but she doesn't like weird textures. All her fruits and veggies she eats without issue but anything that's a little chunky she hates, spits out and then makes the funniest 'gross' face. The ped told us to try giving her meat, turkey basically more protein. I've tried ground turkey and chicken and she hated them both! I even tried quinoa and beans...both got spit out! I've also tried them a second and third time just in case. Anyone else have this problem?! Any solutions?! I want to make sure she's getting the right foods but its hard when she just spits them out! She's doing a bit better with bigger solids too like smalls chunks of mango, avocado, watermelon and cantelope. Maybe we just have a baby vegetarian on our hands! HA!

Once she got out of her funk, we played all afternoon! She climbed more stairs, chairs, high chairs, pretty much anything she could.

She needed a break after all that playing!

While I made us a nice Sunday dinner of spaghetti, Autumn made her way into all the cabinets! She thought it was the coolest thing ever! Uh-oh, let the fun begin!

7.27.2013

I practically ran out of the office Friday since I was so excited for the Luke Bryan concert. Got ready, hung out with the babe, prepped the gramps for the night and got my twang on. I was ready to go until I jokingly asked my mom if she had her ticket. She 'jokingly' said oh shit, I forgot it! I seriously thought she was kidding. Nope. SO we got a little late start.

I made it up by chugging a giant beer through a straw. Like a champ. The venue was a huge outdoor ampitheater, literally in the middle of the desert. We saw Florida Gerorgia Line first (awesome!). They had just finished their set and we could see this storm moving our way...quick.

I told my mom lets go to the bathroom now and take cover. She was not convinced and thought we could just wait it out under a blanket. Then the wind blew, a cold gush of air came in and she was like ok, let's go. The rain, wind, dust and lightening started all at once. We were running our little hearts out up the hill then back down towards the bathrooms. It was raining hard by this point, stuff flying everywhere, a giant tent had collapsed! We were still far from the bathrooms but there were porta pottys.

My fear was not rain, but the hail, winds, debris and especially the extremely close lightening.

Now, if you know me, you know I HATE porta potties! I would rather go next to the porta potty then step foot in one. So for me to even get in one says a lot! We get up to said porta potty and this girl is walking out and we jumped in! Poor girl in her teeny dress and hooker heels didn't know what was going on. Not my problem. Then we got a knock and these two girls begged if they could get in. Sure, why not?! The more the merrier!

It's hard to even describe what was going on outside that plastic temple. The lightening was insane. Flash and boom all in one breath. Winds that were literally destroying everything around us. Rain and hail so hard that it stung your skin. Huge signs, debris and dirt flying everywhere. It felt like that movie Twister. You could hear people screaming, banging on the porta potty to get in. It was awful.

I can only thank God that the concert had just started and the porta potty did not smell because we were stuck in there for an HOUR AND A HALF! I kid you not. Did I mention I had chugged not one, but three beers since we left the house?! I know, I make my mama proud. Now having a baby does not do kind things to your bladder. Somehow mine shrunk to the size of an almond. I won't go into more details than that. There was no choice.

The girls, Mari and Cindy, that were with us were super nice. And super young. Their mom had dropped them off and they were there celebrating a belated birthday. They drove all the way from northern NM just for the concert. I can only hope that someday when Autumn is of concert going age that some nice ladies will let them into their porta potty.

Needless to say, the concert was canceled.

The porta held up against lighting so bright it lit up all the plastic, hail pelting, winds so strong it was swaying and rain that was almost coming from the bottom in. What I can only describe as the most terrifying, hilarious, cramped, uncomfortable, wet, insane hour and a half finally ended. The rain and more so the lightening let up enough for us to make it to the car. It was like a ghost town and only a few other people were still there aside from the workers. Our new friends and us made the flooded, muddy, rainy treck back to the car. On the way the streets were flooded, cars were at a standstill, and tons of windows were broken out. Later we found out broken windows were from flying debris. Where we parked in the dirt was a muddy flooded mess and were lucky we made it out. Other people were stuck or being pulled out by other vehicles.

We were completely soaked and muddy but safe in our car. The girls were with us because there was no way their parents could even pick them up. The drive home was just as crazy. Traffic was at a stand still as the sold out concert tried making it home. The freeway was closed because of flooding and downed power lines. The power was also out to much of the city. It was complete darkness and water. It felt like the apocalypse or something. I kept waiting for a zombie to jump out at any moment.

Finally, we dropped off the girls to their hotel for them to wait for their parents who were going to be stuck in traffic for a long while. We didn't get home til about 11pm. This whole ordeal started at 7:30!

It turns out this storm was the worst in 74 years!!! There were 89mph winds, 2" of rain in a short time and funnel clouds that caused a city wide shutdown. And we got to experience the storm from the center of it all!

Oh man, not the night I had envisioned. At all!! But so incredibly thankful that everyone was safe. I may never use a porta potty for its indented purpose but will hold that plastic shelter dear to my heart.

The best part of the night...seeing that Luke Bryan was tweeting about his fans safety AND that he had already rescheduled the concert for September 22nd with your ticket (or a replacement as many were destroyed)!!! What a standup guy! He could have easily just said 'rain or shine' but did the honorable thing and will come back. In this case, rain was NOT a good thing! HA!

Thankful for a dry home tonight. Oh, and tonight is perfectly clear, calm and zero chance of rain. Go figure ;)

7.26.2013

I know every week I say TGIF, but this week I am extra thankful Friday is here. I've been having a rough week and yesterday was even rougher. I forgot my purse and keys to work, nobody there to open the door, had to go back home, was running 30 minutes late as a result and then dropped an entire bottle of nursery water on my pants. It was one of those days where I just wanted to crawl back into bed, pull the covers over my head and not wake up until Friday. And maybe have a drink with a cute straw under that blanket too. Here's to Friday!

//one// "You can't draw water from an empty well. Take care of yourself and you'll be a better parent." I saw this on The EveryGirl feature 'Lessons in Motherhood' yesterday. As a mom, I think you put everyone else's needs before your own and you run out of time to take care of yourself. You can only work like that for so long. I think it's time for a re-boot for this girl so I can be a better mama, fiance and person.I'm starting this off by hitting up the Luke Bryan concert tonight. Yeehaw!

//two// I forgot how nice it was to have fun nails. Before I had Autumn, I was briefly selling Jamberry Nails. They're nail wraps applied with heat in super fun colors and patterns. Once she came, mommy-hood took over and I just didn't have time to do my nails. Well a couple weeks ago, I was asked to have a table at a fashion show for the New Mexico Autism Society this Saturday. I put some fun black and white chevron nails onto my toes and will be doing my nails in a cool gray color. So fun!

//three// I really want some nerd glasses. Yup, those thick framed, over-sized, take up your whole face glasses. They're glorious. I will not be talked out of them a second time. Nope.

//four// I made the best cupcakes for a going-away at work today (no, not mine sadly). They are devils food cake with a molten ganache center, chocolate buttercream with roasted hazelnuts on top. Mmm, mmm, mmm. The girl who is leaving is prego and this was her prego request. How I miss those prego craving filled days!

//five// This face makes the worst day immediately slip away. If I could just hold, kiss and squeeze her all day I would. She is the light of my everyday.

7.24.2013

We haven't had professional family pictures since Autumn's newborn session, almost a year ago. I had planned on having more, but honestly, with everything else time just slipped away from us. Do the 586,343 pictures I have on my iPhone count?

We're making up for it with Autumn's one year pictures with La Bela Photography. I just had a long chat with Summer and we've got it all planned out. The shoot will take place at Los Poblanos open space which will be just beautiful in the fall. The corn fields will be...up? bloomed? whatever you call that. ha! The fields will be golden and you'll be able to see the Sandia Mountains. I'm also hoping that maybe we'll get lucky and have some hot air balloons in the pictures from the Balloon Fiesta! We drove down to the area on Saturday and it's just gorgeous. I can't wait! Obviously, it's only July and I'm already obsessing.

Obsessing on...I've been trying to find color schemes that will go with the setting. I hate (double hate) matchy-matchy stuff so I'm going more for a color palette that we can tie everything together with. The weather here in October is kind of hit or miss so I'm also trying to think in terms of layering.

We want something like this

NOT this!

I want Autumn in her new orange leg warmers from Baby Blastoff and maybe a cute romper.

She will also be sporting a ridiculously pink-puffy-overly-girly tutu. Definitely. She'll wear this for some of her solo shots and her cake smash. I found a cute one on zulily today.

I'd love to have a little nakey baby running around in her tutu but may have to have a backup plan in case it's too cool. The good news is for this shoot, she will have a diaper on unlike her newborn photos. That was literally a shit show. 'Nuff said.

Autumn definitely needs a headband, or five, for her shoot. I plan on making one with feathers for her actual party, I have a pink one with gold that would match this tutu and onesie perfectly and then maybe splurge and have a custom one made from Jameson Monroe.

{smash cake}

I'm still torn on colors for the cake. Super girly or something fun like mint and some gold?!

I will also be using the gold, pink and silver tassle garland I made a few weeks back but will be adding in some bunting that says 'O-N-E' to hang from the high chair. I used this easy tutorial to make it.

Speaking of high chairs...I feel like I'm finally closer to finding one! It's not that I haven't found any, but people want ridiculous amounts of money for a high chair I'm going to paint and use a couple times. I may be able to get a free one! Awesome!! I've decided to paint whichever one I find a really soft white rather than a stark white. It'll go better with the setting and the party. I'm going to use this primer that eliminates having to sand the wood before painting! Boom! I'm all about time-savings!

I've been lusting over a teepee ever since watching The Holiday. Wasn't Jude Law just the cutest dad ever?! Anyways, they had the cutest little tent and I've wanted to do something similar since. Autumn loves when we make tents from blankets. I know she'll just adore a teepee with some twinkle lights, flags and garland. Ok, she'd probably love some blankets and two chairs but these teepees are just adorable. I've also seen the teepees used as props in photo shoots, like Darci from The Good Life Blog did. Adorable!

I'm in love with giant 3' round balloons! I'd love to use one for the shoot too but am afraid it'll get too 'proppy'. Yes, that's a real word. It'd look oh so cute though. Teeny tiny Autumn and a giant balloon. I saw this on Pinterest where you put them with the number of balloons for each birthday...so one, two, three, you get the picture. So cute.

I never would have imagined planning one little photoshoot would involve so much! Maybe it's that I'm planning her birthday weekend and birthday party too and all of this is taking place within a week of each other, yikes! You know I've started multiple lists for her birthday party already...

I'm really glad I'm starting this early because I know it's going to be here before we know it! Eeeeek!

Today I'm very excited to be linking up with Julie at The Girl in the Red Shoes to share my journey on her Breastfeeding Diaries. It's a wonderful series of real mama's sharing their breastfeeding stories and a great place for support and encouragement.

Please head over and check out our journey and her adorable little man, Hudson.

7.23.2013

We started the weekend with a torrential downpour. I was at work when it started and had to wait to leave because it was raining so bad. We rarely get big storms like this, so when we do it's a big deal. LOL. This is what my drive home looked like. We live maybe 10 minutes away and it took me 30 minutes to get home!

That's not chocolate milk

I put Autumn to bed at her usual time, about 7:30. Our nightime routine looks something like this...bath (if it's bath night), lavender oil, then I hold her with the Boppy and give her a bottle, she falls asleep and I put her in her crib. Goodnight til 5:30-6am.

Not this night. She was asleep, I put her down, eyes wide open and baby giggles erupted. Huh?! Sometimes she likes to wait for Ernest and I thought since it's Friday night we'll just go downstairs. She was super excited to see him. We hung out for a bit then he went to get dinner and I tried putting her to sleep again. Nope. She just kept turning, laughing, kicking, you name it. Wild child. Since we weren't getting anywhere close to sleep we went downstairs again so I could eat (it was 9 by this time). Autumn was not only wide awake but super hyper. She was screaming, flailing her arms and climbing all over everything. I couldn't help myself but laugh. That was until, for the third attempt, she still would not go to sleep. Ernest finally got her to bed by 11pm by just letting her cry it out in the crib.

He told me she's too big a girl to be held like a baby and put to sleep. WHAT?! This was a heartbreaker. I love (love) our snuggle time before bed so it just makes me sad to know she's too old to be rocked to sleep. The worst part is, he's right. She tries to turn around when I'm holding her because she likes to fall asleep on her stomach, arms tucked in, butt in the air. She just can't do that while I'm holding her. So last night, I gave her the bottle, then she starts getting fussy so I said goodnight and put her in the crib. She cried the saddest cry (I may have joined in) then 15 minutes later, bam, sleeping like a baby. It makes me sad but also proud that she's finding her independence. #stopgrowing

Saturday, after a rainy/humid run, we went to the farmer's market (take two). This was a different one and did not disappoint, it was awesome! There were so many vendors, lots of veggies, kids clothes, baked goods, people, and good food. Autumn had so much fun checking everyone out, she made friends with a little white puppy 'Barbara' that kind of looked like Jack, and smiled at lots of adoring fans. We bought tons of veggies and the cutest orange leg warmers for Autumn. They'll be perfect for her one year shoot!

I unsuccessfully looked for wooden high chairs, we had an early dinner, played and tried to take a nap (key word, tried) and made Autumn's food with our farmer's market loot.

On the menu this week was: blueberries, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, mangos, peaches and carrots. I would have finished but our freezer is too small and too full to put all the trays in at once (laying flat) so I have to do them in rounds. It's annoying. You'd think this would be motivation to clean the freezer, but nope. #mamaneedsamaid

In other weekend news, Autumn was such a ham this weekend! I think we can officially say her first word she knows, with meaning, is 'hey'. Ernest got her Saturday morning and she standing in her crib, reaching for her little duck on the table, looked at him with guilty face and said 'hey'. LOL. It's the funniest thing! It's more of an 'ey' than a 'hey' but close enough. She will say it when you come into a room, when Jack isn't paying attention to her or if you start calling her name. I've yet to get it on video since it's still sporadic.

Autumn is also giving kisses! It's SOOOO cute! She'll lean in and either just touch your lips with hers or give you a full on slobbery kiss, sometimes with a lick too.

OH, and she is trying to stand on her own! Eeeek! She'll stand with the help of furniture but is now sticking her butt in the air and trying to stand. It freaks me out. I may need to wrap her in a bubble from now on!

This was the closest pic I could catch of her standing. It usually lasts a split second

Sunday we did more house hunting and visited Grams and Gramps where she blew bubbles and played with the hose.

This is probably the funnest age, the most developmental and the most rewarding. I just love her to the moon!

About Me

On this journey of motherhood with the loves of my life. I'm an Architect (almost) by day, 80 year old grandma by night crocheting away. You can catch all my yarn creations at www.sometimessweetstudio.com